By Avi Creditor

Morgan snaps Abby Wambach's two-year run of winning the annual award, capturing the honors for the first time in her budding career.

Alex Morgan's breakout year for the U.S. women's national team has earned her top honors from the American federation, as she was named the 2012 U.S. Soccer Female Athlete of the Year on Monday.

Morgan had 28 goals and 19 assists for the U.S. women in 2012 and still has three games left to play before the year is up. Those totals are currently third-best and fourth-best, respectively, for a single year by a U.S. woman. Abby Wambach's 31 goals in 2004 are currently the most scored in a calendar year.

Morgan, on the shortlist for FIFA's female Ballon d'Or, was an essential piece of the gold-medal-winning U.S. women's side that triumphed in London this summer. She scored the game-winning goal in a riveting 4-3 extra-time victory over Canada in the Olympic semifinals and scored three goals in the tournament overall.

Wambach had won the award the last two years and remains tied with Mia Hamm -- who won consecutive honors from 1994-1998 -- with five award-winning years.